Steak Sandwich

Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, leaving millions without power. Since news never stops, I found myself at work throughout the whole ordeal. My family in Jersey has been without power since Monday, making food by candlelight.

Luckily, the Upper West Side still has power, but lots of friends are relocated until Con Ed turns their lights back on. I haven’t eaten a normal meal in days since our NBC Commissary (cafeteria) has been providing free meals for everyone. I headed to Fairway to find extremely slim pickings. I wanted to make a steak sandwich, but ended up settling on a less then ideal cut of meat. The bread section was even more depressing with no options other then challah. People are definitely venturing uptown for the simple essentials. I decided to improvise. I headed to the cheese section to pick up a great blue cheese to crumble on top of the steak and challah.

I came home and made a simple marinade with red wine, garlic, dried rosemary and Gray’s Poupon. I generously salted the steaks on both sides and placed them in the bag with the marinade.

After an hour or so, I took out the steak to become room temperature. I heated the George Foreman grill, spraying with Pam. Next, I cut thin slices of challah, toasted the inside pieces on the grill, since I planned to panini the entire sandwich after.

I cooked the steak quickly, then allowing for it to rest for 5 minutes to retain all of the juices. I cut up the blue cheese placing it on the toasted side of the sandwich.

Finally, I cut the steak against the grain and placed it on top of the cheese. I then put the sandwich back on the grill, putting the top down to panini the sandwich, simultaneously toasting the bread and melting the blue cheese.

I sliced the sandwich in half. And voila! A fancy sandwich at home with slim pickings. I have to say, the challah actually enhanced the dish with a subtle sweetness to contrast the sharp cheese. Making lemonade out of lemons.